User talk:Nosara

Spanish-filipino mestizos

The estimate made that 1% of the Philippines is of predominantly Spanish-filipino descent may in fact be an overestimation. This statement cannot be supported by personal convictions or ignorant accusations but can in fact be at least partially backed up by statistics.We often cringe about the likelihood of the often skewed nature of statistics and of the often poorly defined definitions of what's what. But,if consistent, these statistics can shed some much needed light onto the already heated debate about the spanish-filipino mestizo.

At one end we have Domingo Abello's conclusions that at the turn of the 18th century Spanish and Spanish mestizos numbered less than 4000 out of 2.5 million so-called indios, or about 0.16%(McFerson,2002). If we look at a 1779 census of the population of the Archdiocese of Manila, 6, 059 people out of 385, 498 were of Spanish descent, or about 1.6%. Of the 6059, 348 were peninsulares, 1436 were criollos and 4275 were spanish-mestizos (Cushner, 1971). If we take these numbers in proportion with the whole archipelago's population at the time, which had far fewer spanish-filipinos, it would suggest that up to 0.28% of the Philippines were of whole or partial Spanish descent in 1779.

In 1810, of 2, 515, 406 people on the Archipelago less than 4000 were Spanish or Spanish mestizos, about 0,16%.Note that Mexicans and Mexican-filipino mestizos were included in the Spanish and Spanish-filipino mestizo grouping.(http://filipinokastila.tripod.com/FilMex.html)

Furthermore, statistics in 1883 state that all peoples with a deemed-significant Spanish-descent (spaniards, criollos, and spanish-filipino mestizos), made up only 0.2925%, or around 17 550, of the total Philippine archipelago of 6 million (McFerson,2002).

However, Agustin de la Cavada Mendez de Vigo stated that in 1881 people of whole and partial Spanish ancestry were as follows (McFerson, 2002): Luzon- males: 4087,   females: 4382

Visayas-   M: 575,      F:508

Mindanao-  M: 105,      F: 53

subtotal-  M:4767,      F:4943

total -       9710 (or around 0.16%) As we can see here, it suggests that over 87% of spanish-descended peoples were located in Luzon.

In the well-cited 1903 census we find that of 7, 635, 426 people, 0.2% or 15,419 were european mestizos, while 0.2% or 14,271 were caucasions of European descent(half of them being americans). Thus,0.4% of the archipelago were of european ancestry.

If this trend of the percentage Spanish-filipino mestizos hovering well-below 1% continues today from around 0.16% to 0.4%, than they would number from 144,000 to 360, 000.

Debate about these statistics are sure to surface, and rightly so. But if we consider the 18th and 19th spanish practice of the casta system and the documentation of the spanish subjects, these can provide a bit of insight to the many filipinos who are uncertain about their ancestry and to those who would like to know some information about today's spanish-filipino mestizo numerical reality. Some of my sources are: 1) Mixed Blessing: the Impact of the American Colonial Experience on Politics and Society in the Philippines. Hazel M. McFerson, forwarded by Fidel V. Ramos. West Port: Greenwood Press, 2002. 2) Spain in the Philippines, From Conquest to Revolution. Nicholas P. Cushner. 1st ed. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University. Rutland, Vt:C.E.Tuttle Co. 1971, 3) http://filipinokastila.tripod.com/FilMex.html

For some interesting insight take a look at Emily Monroy's article http://www.analitica.com/bitblioteca/emily_monroy/race_mixing.asp